


Cell Phone Blues

by LadyPenn (i_write_a_lot)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, OC helps Castiel, Spoilers for "The End", Why Castiel hates cell phones, Worried!Dean, about 3000+words, highways, random/other, worried!Sam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-07
Updated: 2012-09-07
Packaged: 2017-11-13 18:26:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/506402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_write_a_lot/pseuds/LadyPenn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel’s cell phone causes more problems than originally anticipated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cell Phone Blues

**Author's Note:**

> -Alternative Title: "Why Castiel Hates Cell Phones"  
> -Written after watching "The End", and seeing Castiel standing on the edge of the highway  
> -Original Character sort of based off of myself (I don't have a car)  
> -About 2-3,000 words

Castiel waited. 

And waited.

And waited some more. 

When five hours had passed, and Dean did not call back, he checked his phone and saw that he was out of minutes, but that he’d received ten calls in the past four hours. He felt frustration, anger, annoyance, and hopelessness. He considered praying, but felt that this should be a simple problem, and didn’t want to concern his father too much. 

So he just stood there, in the slowly growing dark, across the street from a shopping mall.

\--  
When another three hours had passed, Castiel began to feel bitterness. He was acting so human, with not being able to fly towards his friends. He wasn’t sure what he was going to be able to do, should night fall.  
\--

The sky was darkening more.

Three and a half hours had passed, and yet still he stood next to the mall. Most of the vehicles were gone. The place he was at was now silent.

It…made him uneasy. 

He glanced at the phone’s clock, even though he instinctively knew what time it was. The clock was off by about ten minutes and seven seconds. Still, it was close enough to the correct time that Castiel didn’t bother changing it.  
\--

At nearly full dark, someone finally spotted him and decided to help. It was a rather plain looking young woman, in her early twenties, and she was carrying groceries. She appeared to have seen him simply by glancing over. It had not yet happened before. 

To his surprise, instead of hurrying away, she came towards him, groceries set beside the car. 

“You okay, Sir?” She asked, honest concern in her features. He schooled his face more than before. 

“My phone is out of minutes. I do not know where my friends are. They do not know where I am.” He hesitated. “I’m…not sure what I am supposed to do.”

“How long you been standing there for?” Her accent placed her in Louisiana. He shrugged. 

“Almost fifteen hours,” He informed her, and then wondered if he’d said something wrong when she looked surprised, and then thoughtful. 

“Okay,” She said in a considering tone. “Let me see your phone, please.” 

He handed it over without a second thought. She flipped it open, and read the things, and said mildly, 

“Well, it seems like your friends are mighty concerned about you. They’ve called almost fifty-five times in the past several hours.” She looked up from the phone. “Do you mind if I call them?” 

He shook his head. 

She opened up another phone-her own, he surmised, though it was very different from his-and punched in a bunch of numbers, before handing Castiel’s phone back to hold for a bit. Castiel listened with interest as she said, 

“Hello? Your friend was standing here, and he says that he’s been standing there for fifteen hours. His phone was out of minutes, and I thought I would help-”  
She glanced up from the phone and looked at him. 

“Er, what’s your name?” She asked, a bit sheepishly. He raised an eyebrow. 

“Castiel.” He informed her politely. She nodded. 

“He says his name is Castiel,” She said, and Castiel could hear Dean on the other end, talking very quickly and a bit worriedly, asking if he was okay. “Well, I’d say he’s a bit tired from all the standing around, upset about his phone, and maybe a bit hungry, but I can rectify that, sure. If ya’ll can tell me where to take him to meet up with ya-“”  
Dean apparently rattled off an address. 

“Okay, North 65 highway, in the Westmount Hotel, gotcha.” She said aloud, making Castiel blink. “Seems a mighty long way from Salem, though.” She added, sounding concerned.  
More chatter from Dean that Castiel could barely hear. 

“Yeah, don’t worry. I promise I won’t hurt him none, and I’ll bring him to you guys. Should take me a couple of days afore I get there. I been there before, so yeah, it shouldn’t be much of a problem.” She said with a smile towards Castiel. “Yea, we’ll see you then-would you like to talk to Castiel?” She offered, and Castiel nodded eagerly, and she said, “Hold up a mo’, I think your buddy wants to chat.” She handed the phone, pressing it against his ear, and Castiel could hear Dean more clearly. He breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing him. 

“Cas?”

“Dean?” 

“Cas, you had us worried to death!” Dean sounded high-strung and relieved all at once. Castiel hated that he was the cause of such worry. “Damn it, why didn’t you use a pay phone, like Sam had shown you?” 

“There were none nearby.” Castiel explained. “I was unsure of what I was to do. The phone had run out of minutes, and I cannot fly over there.” He saw the woman look at him with interest.

“All right…the woman, whatever her name is-you can tell she’s not some…weird monster or anything?” 

“Yes,” Castiel hoped he wouldn’t be asked outright if she was, and thankfully Dean seemed to read what he meant over the phone. 

“Good, all right, um…Sam says he’s glad your okay, and Bobby says hi too,” Dean told him. “Let me talk to the chick again, kay?” 

Castiel pulled away from the phone, and the woman put the phone back to her ear. Castiel tried to take comfort in the fact that he was likely saved now, and tried to hear Dean while the woman talked, though he could barely make out the static of the phone. 

“No, I don’t need your money, but thanks,” She said, sounding patient and understanding, instead of ridiculed and angry that someone would offer her money to help a friend. Castiel was liking her more and more. “I’ll call to let you know when we’re close, okay? We’ll probably make sure he gets some food and rest, and we’ll be on our way.”  
After a short brief goodbye, she hung up the phone and turned towards him. 

“My name is Ann Ross, and I gotta put those groceries into the car and take them home. Your friend, Dean, said that you was to go with me and obey me, okay?” She said, tentatively, and Castiel nodded once. 

She walked towards the car, making sure that he followed. 

\--  
After getting the groceries into the car, she sat him in the front passanger seat, and then they were off down the highway and moving. After spending fifteen hours straight, standing in one position, Castiel was glad that he was doing something more, and that he would-hopefully-soon be seeing Dean and Sam and Bobby again. As much as they argued nowadays, he felt safest with them, for they knew to teach him more about being human. 

“You’s awfully quiet, Castiel.” Ann said, sounding concerned. “You didn’t get hurt none?” 

Castiel shook his head. 

“I apologize if my silence has made you uncomfortable,” He offered, sounding uncertain. She laughed lightly. 

“Aw, quiet don’t bother me none; I guess I’m just used to other people being so loud, that it’s odd to have someone next to me that’s quiet.” She said gently, and Castiel’s brow furrowed. 

“Why are you being so nice to me? Most humans I have met are mean, cruel, and will do anything to get money or…” He trailed off. She was silent for a few moments, and he wondered if he had maybe insulted her. 

“I’m being nice because I always hated waiting on the front porch steps, or the front school doors, or the library opening for a car ride myself. I know how it feels-you feel impatient, angry, worried, scared, and a number of other different things when the people who are taking you to and from places aren’t there when they say they’ll be there.” She said, looking towards him momentarily before turning back to the highway. “I told myself if ever there was someone I could help that wouldn’t feel anxious about it, I would help them no matter the cost.” 

Castiel was quiet, before saying tentatively, 

“You are from the south,” 

She blinked in surprise, and then laughed. 

“Yeah, I just got back from a trip from LA, and I guess the accent picked up again. I travel a lot, because my family’s scattered about the place. Henry’s in North Carolina doing college, Brenda’s in Missouri doing college, mom’s in holiday in England with her longtime boyfriend, and a bunch of my family folk are scattered about the states-mostly in LA, Mississippi, and California. I’m debating about where I wanna go to settle down, really.” She explained. 

He found that he liked her accent, and said so. She just chuckled dryly. 

“Yea, sometimes I like it too. Though there ain’t much proper grammar from the way those folk talk down there, it gets annoying at times. But…it sounds like home, to me.” She said wistfully, and he nodded understanding. 

\--  
They ate at a place called ‘Taco Bell’, a place that Castiel was well familiar with from his travels with Sam and Dean. The food was all right, his favorite was something called cinnamon twists, and she treated him to ice cream afterwards. 

It was going to be another five hours before they reached Sam and Dean and Bobby.

\--  
The highway at night was a beautiful place, Castiel thought drowsily as he drifted to sleep about an hour later, exhausted and belly full of good human food.  
\--

The woman, Ann, shook him awake and Castiel slowly opened his eyes to see that they were at a familiar setting-a hotel. 

“Castiel? We’re at your friends place,” She said softly, looking as though she hated waking him up. Castiel slowly got up, feeling impossibly relieved that they had finally reached them. They were at the hotel that Dean had told her to be at, and he knew they would be waiting in the room for him. She led him there, keeping a steady grip on his arm, as he was still tired and barely able to see straight. 

She knocked on the door to their room, and it opened revealing Dean and Sam in the background. 

“Cas!” Dean reached forward, grabbed him, and hugged him tight before pulling him back. “You look awful,” He said, in a fond tone. 

“He’s mighty tired-I hated waking him up, as he was sleepin’ in my car on the way here for part of the trip,” Ann said with a sigh. “I got him some dinner, but you might want to be sure he’s all right. He stood in one spot for fifteen hours, or so he said.” 

“Thank you,” Dean said, staring at her with that familiar look that meant that he was willing to do anything for that person, no matter what. Castiel found it comforting. “You likely just saved his life. Cas doesn’t know anything about cell phones, and he’s…well,” Dean said, suddenly uncomfortable. 

Ann seemed to consider, studying them. 

“If you need any help at all, just give me a call.” She said, after a moment. “Here, Castiel-“” She handed him a small white card, and he slowly took it. “If you need help again, and don’t know where to turn, just call me…and get your friends here to show you how,” She said with a wink.

Dean frowned at her, and muttered one word-

“Christo,” 

She didn’t even react, but instead gave them a puzzled look and said after a few moments of uncertain silence,

“Well, I best get on home. It’s been a long couple a days, and I’m sure your buddy Castiel can use the rest.” She said, and turned to leave towards her car-when Sam stopped her. 

“Ma’am,” He said, holding her arm lightly before removing his hand a moment later. “Here,” He handed her a card similar to the one that she had given Castiel. “If you need help,  
like you said, don’t hesitate calling. For anything,” He emphasized, and she smiled slyly. 

“You boys will likely be all right. And if we do meet again, I’m sure I’s gonna be all right.” She gave a little smile to Castiel. “Take care now, hun.” She suggested, before wandering over to her car. 

The Winchester brothers tried to pull Castiel into the hotel room, but he refused to move until he could no longer make out the headlights of Ann Ross’s car.

\--  
Several hours later, when they are on the road in Dean Winchester’s beloved impala, Castiel thinks that he sees the car of Ann’s again, and thinks of a Southern accent and a kind soul.  
\--

**Author's Note:**

> -I do not own Supernatural, I only own the character 'Ann Ross'


End file.
